Research Agenda

The research agenda under NACP is to position NACO as the leading national body, promoting, conducting and coordinating research on HIV/AIDS through:

• National plan for HIV/AIDS research
• Partnership and Networking with stakeholders
• Conducting & Commissioning HIV/AIDS research on key programmatic issues
• Central Repository of all relevant resources, research documents and data base on HIV/AIDS in the country

National HIV/AIDS Research Plan

In order to identify key evidence gaps and research needs of the programme and to systematically address them through scientific research, NACO has articulated the ‘National HIV/AIDS Research Plan’ (NHRP). NHRP focused on commissioning time-bound research studies in a phased manner, with a multi-centric approach and evolving a strong mechanism to use the research outcomes for programmatic purposes. The two key activities under the National HIV/AIDS Research Plan is setting priority areas for research in HIV/AIDS and to commission & initiate research studies on the key priority areas.

Vision

The key defining features of NHRP are as follows:

• Research focused to assist evidence based policy decisions and programming
• Multi-centric and representative research for meaningful evidence at the national level
• Ability to offer solutions customised to region specific context
• High standards of scientific rigour and robustness
• Innovative research methods to overcome research barriers
• Institutional collaboration and cross-learning
• Active involvement of programme leading to ownership of research outcomes and their translation into programme

Objectives

• To identify the information gaps and research needs in the programme that require research to generate fresh evidence
• To develop and finalise research priorities in consultation with programme divisions, partners and technical experts
• To commission epidemiological, socio-behavioural, operational, clinical research and evaluations through identified institutes/ organisations
• To consolidate & disseminate research outcomes for programmatic use from time to time
• To promote scientific publication in the form of papers/ articles/ reports/ briefs etc.

Process & Key Stakeholders

During setting Priorities for HIV/ AIDS Research under NACP, a detailed exercise to assess existing information gaps in the programme was conducted involving programme managers at NACO, state level and development partners. Research priorities identified by the Working Groups during the NACP planning process across all programme divisions were included and reviewed. In addition, topics identified by the Strategic Information division through various activities were also incorporated into the list. The compiled list was screened and reviewed to separate the topics that can be studied through analysis of available secondary data and those that need fresh research. Key research questions were developed for the identified topics and were categorised as epidemiological studies, socio-behavioural, bio-medical and clinical research, and operational research.

Compiled list of studies was segregated into three phases depending on the inputs given by programme divisions. All the programme divisions at NACO have been involved at every stage of finalising the research plan. Costing & mapping of studies is also undertaken.

Review Mechanism

A multi-stage review process is followed for review of research proposals, beginning from internal review involving research and programme division as well as external review by a panel of experts in the subject area. After receiving feedback, the proposal is then sent to the Principal Investigator for revision; and the revised proposal is put up to the Technical Resource Group on SI-R&E for technical review and then to the NACO-Ethics Committee for ethical approval. A snapshot of the review mechanism is provided below:

Collaboration with ICMR

Another key aspect of the research activities at NACO is collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research. Some of the key aspects of this collaboration is presented below:

• Technical review of Indo-foreign collaborative research proposals received from Indian Council of Medical Research through established mechanism of review of proposals of NACO
• Technical review of ICMR supported research proposals received from them, through internal review mechanism of NACO; after which the proposals are reviewed and approved in the Project Review Committee (PRC) on HIV/AIDS and STIs of ICMR. DDG (Research), NACO is member of the PRC, ICMR.
• Technical review and approval of research proposals received independently from Research institutes/organisation, Centres of Excellence, Medical Colleges which are not or within the list of priority areas for research under NACP
• Technical review and approval of research proposals received for PG, MD, PhD or other such requests through a faster internal review by State AIDS Control Society if the thesis request for primary or secondary data collection pertains to one. If the thesis request pertains to more than one centre, it is centrally reviewed at NACO by SI-R&E

Coordination of activities of the Network of Indian Institution for HIV/AIDS Research

A research consortium called the Network of Indian Institutions for HIV/AIDS Research (NIIHAR) has been set up to promote collaboration, training & capacity building among research institutions in HIV/AIDS research. The purpose of NIIHAR is to facilitate and undertake operational research and evaluation studies in epidemiological, behavioural, social and bio-medical disciplines. This consortium will pool resources and expertise to conduct high quality, collaborative, multi-centric research that will help evidence based decision making on policy, management and evaluation of interventions.

The basic responsibilities of the NIIHAR consortium are:

• Participation in various studies including multi-centric funded by NACO
• Participation in training and capacity building programmes of Individuals and Institutions
• Organising Annual Conference on HIV/AIDS Research
• Deputation of experts to NACO as short-term consultants based on specific requirements

Dissemination of HIV/AIDS Research Outcomes

Dissemination

One of the key outcomes of all evidence generation is to disseminate findings and inform the programme to facilitate mid-course corrections. In the past, a National Conference on HIV/AIDS Research has been organised at New Delhi on the Theme, Towards Evidence – Policy linkages in HIV/AIDS Research. A Pre- conference Workshop on “HIV/AIDS Research: Challenges & Perspectives” was held. The main purpose of holding dissemination was to provide evidences from research for programme planning and policy formulation. Topline study findings are documented in the form of technical briefs from completed operational research studies.